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Irish Poet Laureate Seamus Heaney Dies At 74

Irish Poet Laureate Seamus Heaney has died at the age of 74 after a short illness. Heaney, who was born in Northern Ireland in 1939, died in a hospital in Dublin. His family released the following statement; “The death has taken place of Seamus Heaney. The poet and Nobel Laureate died in hospital in Dublin this morning after a short illness. The family has requested privacy at this time.”

The poet published 13 collections of poetry, with his last collection Human Chain published in 2010. As well as being Ireland’s Poet Laureate, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995.

Heaney also acted as Professor of Rhetoric at Harvard in 1994 and was Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 1989 – 1994.

As the news of his death broke, celebrities such as Mia Farrow and Bill Clinton shared their memories of Heaney on Twitter.

"Once in a lifetime the longed for tidal wave of justice can rise up, and hope and history rhyme." - Seamus Heaney pic.twitter.com/9GN1C3jp0K